Trinidad and Tobago head coach Leo Beenhakker conceded defeat in his
team's latest 2006 World Cup qualifier to the United States but
feels that the 1-0 result does not need to be dramatized as the
“Warriors” stayed within distance of the third and fourth teams Costa
Rica and Guatemala at the end of matches on Wednesday in CONCACAF.

T&T remained on four points, ahead of Panama (two points) while
Guatemala moved to seven, same as the Costa Ricans who were beaten 2-0
away to Mexico. The Mexicans are out front with 16, one more than the
US.

The Dutch-born coach was particularly harsh on his team for their slow
start to proceedings which saw the Americans grab on 91 seconds.

“I was not happy but I think I could not ask more of them in the second
half when we played with ten men” Beenhakker told TTFF Media.

“We know a long time now that the United States always start strong and
we made the same mistake. We knew also that our team always seems to
need about twenty or twenty five minutes to get in the game and I don’t
know why. We worked on it and we talked about it. But I don’t know if
they need to work more on their minds or with more pressure,” he added,
voicing his concern about the inability to get off the mark on a
quicker note.

“The US start was killing and we also had some bad luck because when we
also got into the game a bit more we lost a guy. It was a good decision
from the referee and I don’t blame him.”

Looking back at the performance, he said briefly: “At least we were in
the game in the second half with ten guys and we had a lot of ball
possession.

And looking ahead to what is now a must win match at home to Guatemala
on September 3, the man in charge ended: “We learnt a lot and
once again we saw that it is killing to start a match in such a
way. I hope that the guys will pick it up. We also know that we don’t
have to dramatize this result because USA is very strong like Mexico
which did it’s duty and beat Costa Rica. It means they still have seven
points and we are three behind. We still have it in our hands.”

US coach Bruce Arena added : "I think we deserved the three
points. I thought we played very well and I think we felt guilty
perhaps we made it a little bit difficult on ourselves. Give them
credit: they never quit. They defended well and we failed to convert
our chances. However, the three points is huge. Fifteen points after
six games is as good as it gets and I think we're getting real close to
qualifying for Germany. We’re pleased where we are.”

The match was played in front of typical die hard American fan base but
the visitors were well represented too by a number of fans who turned
out in their “Red” from shirts to flags with drums and all to give
Dwight Yorke and his men some form of support away from home.

But with no time to settle, the T&T faithful were scratching their
heads and goalie Kelvin Jack admitted that he was left shell shocked
when a mishap on the right back position allowed Bobby Convey to push
behind Atiba Charles and play one across for Brian McBride to knick
home for a 1-0 USA lead. It was the beginning of a miserable
first half for T&T as goalie Jack had to bring off some masterful
work between the sticks to keep T&T in the match.

T&T took way too long to settle and just when the started to make a
match of it, a bad back pass by Marvin Andrews forced Dennis Lawrence
to use illegal force to prevent Landon Donovan from going clear to goal
and the Wrexham defender was given marching orders. At the time,
Beenhakker was looking to put Scott Sealy on the right wing and force
Silvio Spann into a right back position. But just as Lawrence got sent
off, he was forced to throw Brent Sancho into the fire and push Sealy
up top. The switch led to probably the best performances by Sancho and
Spann in that right back position. Yorke also dropped into the midfield
and after weathering the first half storm, T&T put in a revamped
second half performance.

T&T’s first shy at the goal came in the 7th minute when Chris
Birchall’s left side corner went just past the far post as Lawrence
just couldn’t get in on time.

For the US, Oguchi Onyewu had an attempt cleared at the last second and
then Jack escaped when his clear out, after admitting he was in two
minds to take a touch or clear first time, ended up falling straight to
Donovan who saw his effort blocked by a racing Jack off his line.

Yorke almost created a good chance when he fought off a defender on the
right of the box but just managed to get his cross blocked out.

The second half began with T&T looking desperate to get back into
the contest but still vulnerable with the ten men. Onyewu forced
another good save from Jack in the 56th minute and then Convey’s low
drive brought the best out the Dundee man. Jack ended up with ten saves.

All the while, a fighting Sancho held his ground with desperate but
timely tackles and kept his composure in holding position and getting
the ball out of the danger area. And though called upon to perform
extra duty at the back, Spann was still able to make the some runs
forward on the right.

Kenwyne Jones who came on for Stern John, almost had a penalty call in
his favour when he pushed into the left of the box and went down
following a tackle but the referee didn’t see it in T&T’s favour.

And Andrews narrowly missed out on a touch to a right side ball which went inches past the left post.

Convey was sent off for a second booking in the 87th minute and with an
extra three minutes on the clock, T&T tried in vain to steal a late
point. A better second half showing definitely meant that the hard
journey continues as the “Warriors” demonstrated that they can still
pull it off and it continues at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on
September 3 against the Guatemalans.

The local-based contingent is scheduled back home at 1:30pm Thursday
while all the overseas-based players were scheduled to depart to their
respective destinations on the same day. Yorke was due out of
Connecticut on Thursday and schedule to arrive in Sydney on Saturday.